Quite excited about this conference as it frames the
discussion in the relation of the future of culture, and unusually locates museums
in the dialogue with music and cities. The
title of my paper is ‘How Not To Be National’ in which I’ll be talking about how it
is possible to develop an international practice by ignoring your regional or
national cultural institutional structures and going straight to global projects and
collaboration. In my session I share the platform with Raquel Mesa from Action
Cultural in Spain and N2U Art Group Paris.

I often hear myself
referred to as entrepreneurial, and though never correct it, don’t believe it
is a good description at all. So I’ll be talking at the Cultural Heritage
Workshop about Entrepreneurship. Really the
key to entrepreneurship is not pursuit of making money at all; it's new
thinking that matters – Asking yourself fundamental questions about how your practice
works and how to trade on your uniqueness.

This one
will be a version of the Siena presentation, applying the experience of Bury to
the opportunities for Aberdeen. I’m
speaking on Friday 10 Feb. Sharing a platform with Chris Carney of Threshold
Festival of Music & Arts, Stefán Magnússon, is the Artistic Director
of Eistnaflug festival, in
Iceland, and Angela Michael, Festivals and Cultural Director at
VisitAberdeenshire.